Maple Tales: Open the Book
by Majoll
Summary: This is the story of Reneff Hyudrain, a slacker being thrown into the world of Maple Story. Follow his journey through lands both cruel and strange along side his friends Drake, Belle, and Valen


Notice: If I owned MapleStory, I'd be very, VERY rich. But since I don't, I'm _not _rich... (Sob)

Anyway I hope you all enjoy this story, of maple, but not maple trees!

Chapter one: Maple island: Reneff Hyudrain

Maple island, the place where all beginners started out their training. With this training, they would reach the

turning point, the point where one embraces either, the bow, the shadows, the staff, or the sword.

Reneff Hyudraine blew strands of black hair from his vision as his teacher for the day, Roger, nattered on about

potions. "Potions are important for various things, they can be used to heal you when you're in danger, or

strengthen yourself in a pinch.". He ended with his stupid wink for the girls, many of whom giggled. What a jerk.

Personally, his favorite teacher was always Nina, although he couldn't think of her without a sly grin coming onto

his face. Too bad about her little brother though... "Now then, today is the day where you will all be sent out to

train on 'false' monsters, understood?" Roger asked. Everyone nodded, although some with too much

enthusiasm. Reneff was one of the few who didn't nod. Thankfully Roger ignored him this time. It was way too

annoying when he tried to lecture him in class, only to have Reneff fall asleep. It was a waste of time... The

others who didn't nod were his childhood friends, Drake, Valen, and Belle. Each of them already knew what they

wanted to be. Drake had wanted to be a theif, he already carried a knife with him that was too difficult for him to

use correctly. Valen had began saving up his money, to buy as many arrows as possible, until he had them by

the thousands. Belle had been focusing her intellectal mind, until she seemed to know stuff that even the

teachers didn't know. Completely scary. Reneff hadn't really though much on what he was going to become, his

father kept on telling him to focus on those studies like a mad man. He always said, the opprotunity to becoming

a powerful magicain always went by first. Still, at this point Reneff could make a choice on a whim, so there was

no need to rush. Then again, no one listened to the thoughts of a fifteen year old. "Now then, I want everyone to

gather into groups of four, this will teach you about working together as a party.". Without thought, Reneff walked

off with Belle, Valen, and Drake to stand at the front. "So, have you decided what your going to be yet, Reneff?"

Belle asked him. Every one of his friends had tried to get him to join their side. Drake always pointed out a few

unappropriate perks to being a theif, many of which drew Reneff's attention for a while. Still, that would mean

getting up close with a knife, or throwing shuriken at monsters. Reneff's accuracy was pathetic. That of course

reduced bowman to nothing, and magicain just didn't have the appeal he wanted. Warriors were okay, they had

alot of stamina with their life techniques, and could crush enemies early on while all the others tried to master

themselves. But it still mean't going up close to monsters. According to some of the teachers from Victoria

island, the monsters weren't all small and sickly _cute_ there. A bell was suddenly rung, and Rennef walked out of

the class room, towards their training field. The "false" monsters were really just rocks that were enchanted by

Grendel of Ellinia. What were their names again? One of the twin teachers, Peter or Todd, came forward

instead of Roger, then gestured to the rocks. "For your hunting practice defeat the Jr. Sentinals. Don't worry they

can't hurt you, and don't have much stamina." he said. "Once everyone in your team has defeated one, and

collected a piece of the sentinal, meet my brother Peter at the top of the hill." Todd said. It must have been

Todd! "Now, begin!".

Reneff slashed out at the jr sentinal he was assigned to. When he saw his attack simply bounce off of it's hard

shell he sat down and pulled out his guide. Just as the instructor said, the sentinal just floated there, waiting for

him to resume their little fight. Flipping through the pages, Reneff came upon what he was looking for. Every

single person who journeyed in the world was given this book. Civilians didn't have one, or else it would have

been a waste of Grendel's magic. Within the book, he saw his own image, and beside his photograph were

statistics divided into four groups. He scanned them quickly. "Luck: Increases your chances of evading an

enemie's attacks. A highly necessary trait for theives and magicains. It holds no special value for warriors, or

bowmen.". Luck wouldn't help him so he moved onto Intelligence. "Intelligence: Increases the magical energy

within a person's body. Also it increases the capacity of magical energy that a person can hold at once. A

desperately importent trait for Magicains, but holds little value to any other classes.". Reneff knew nothing of

magic so he moved on, growing slightly aggitated. "Dexterity: Increases the accuracy of a weapon user,

although it is useless to magicains. All other classes make use of it as a vital trait.". Reneff practically threw

down his book in indignation. Great...accuracy was _vital_... "Strength: Increases the over all damaging power of

warriors. Also beginners are suggested to have a minor supply of it.". Fianlly something useful! Reneff looked

down at his photo again. His stats were a toal of twenty five points, divided into the four groups.

Strength read at eight, dexterity at five, intelligence at eight, and luck at four. Without throught, Drake touched

the upward arrow written next to strength, and pressed it experimentally. Nothing happened for a moment, when

Reneff suddenly remembered what his teachers had told him before.

_FLASHBACK:_

"You traits will only be able to be increased, when your assigned book recognised that you have reached a

certain level of experiece. It will then reward you with five more points." The white bearded Grendel explained.

_END FLASHBACK_

"That's just great." Reneff muttered. Looking around, he saw his teammates having difficulties. Valen was

damaging his target, but only chips came off the sentinal, and bigger chunks were coming out of his wooden

club. Drake was darting back and forth with a thin sword, but his attacks were just bouncing off. Belle was the

worst off, her sentinal was just floating, letting her wear herself out swinging her own club at it. Sighing, Reneff

rose to his feet, and pocketed his book. The sentinal's eye glowed and it started moving again. According to his

stats, Reneff had high power for his experience. This time, Reneff swung his axe without restraint, as hard as he

could. He nearly dropped his weapon when it didn't bounce back at him. The broad ax head was lodged in the

sentinal's body, and came back out with a crumbling sound. Excellent! Reneff continued to swing his axe fiercly,

driving it's metal head deeper and deeper into the rock being's body. After perhaps only three blows, it

crumbled into small fragments, which then grounded themselves into dust. Only one piece remained, and Reneff

picked it up, storing it in his bag. It seemed he was one of the first few people done, as everyone else was still

attacking their rock partners. As Reneff turned once more to his "party", he felt a twinge of pitty towards Belle.

She was still having no luck with her jr sentinal. Reneff walked up next to her. "Do you want some help?" he

asked. "It's okay, I can handle this thing." she said, panting fiercely. "Are you sure?" Reneff asked her teasingly.

Belle stopped for a moment then gave him a sour look. "I don't think you're allowed to help." she said. "We're

supposed to be a party, so they can't fault me for helping you." Reneff said, brandishing his axe. With another

mighty swing he cleaved the sentinal in two. "You must have weakened it." he said as the pieces crumbled.

Belle bent down to pick up her fragment, then smiled slowly. "Thanks.". Drake came up to them, with Valen just

behind him. "Good to see you're both finished." Drake said, showing his own fragment of the sentinal. Valen

drew his own out too, while Reneff fished his out from his bag. Todd came walking up to them, and nodded his

approval at the fragments. They were some of the first people to go to Peter's hill, to formally finish their training.

Reneff looked into his bag again as they walked, and brought out his guide. "So what do you guys have as

traits?" he asked curiously. Valen brought his out, and began to read them off. "Strength: five, dexterity ten,

intelligence five, luck five.". Belle lowered her eyes in embarressment as she spoke. "Mine are... strength: four,

dexterity: four, intelligence: ten, luck: seven.". So that's why she was doing so poorly. Drake laughed slightly then

said his own traits. "Mine are, strength: seven, dexterity: seven, intelligence 4, luck: seven.". Reneff nodded and

said his as well. By the time they reached the hill top, Peter was making "Roger faces" to Belle. "Alright now

what do we do?" Reneff asked. Peter stepped forward with his clip board, then checked off four names. Their's.

"Congradultions, I believe your all ready for a stat boost." he commented. Quickly he held out his hand and

asked for their books. When everyone handed there's to him, Peter opened each of them to their photo pages.

He reached into his pocket, then withdrew a vial. He uncorked it, then poured a single drop on each one. The

photos began to glow, until it looked as though their doubles were alive, but then the glowing faded, back to

normal books. "Now you've all reached the next level. Chose how to distribute your traits wisely. He turned to the

next party that was coming onto the hill top. Beyond them, the other class members were coming in droves.

Reneff took back his own book, and looked at the section on his own traits. Once more he pressed his finger,

on the arrow next to strength. As soon as he touched it, the photo glowed once more. A rush of power surged

through him, already he felt stronger! He looked where the number of strength had been, and instead of eight, it

was now nine. So that's how it worked! "What are you going to choose now?" Belle asked him. She had done

the same thing as him, only her intelligence number now all the way at fifteen! "I don't know, I think I've got a

liking for strength now.". "Well you could always be-" Belle began to say, "I think I know what your saying.

Besides this way, we can all be one of everything. We might just be an unstoppable team.". "So your going to

choose it?" Drake asked. "Yeah...I'll become our warrior." Reneff announced, closing the book solemnly.

Writer's Note:

Well I hope you enjoyed it, I had to somehow add the level up stuff, but if the words: LEVEL UP, suddenly appeared above a character's head, that would be really weird. FOr the record, the books are magical, and they judge their owners. When they think the owner is strong enough, they stat them as leveled up, and grant them the necessary points. I hope this cleared a view things up. I like staying near the original training, instead of the new patch version, and I hope it was close to the one in the game. Please give me reviews, I'll be coming out with new chapters too.


End file.
